Paul Stanley Says Lead Guitar ‘Seemed Too Difficult’

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley recalled his early days of playing guitar, saying he chose to focus on rhythm playing because lead appeared to be too much of a challenge.

In a fan Q&A session on the recent Kiss Kruise, he was asked about his decision to leave lead playing to someone else. “It seemed so difficult,” he replied. “I understood the rhythm and that’s what really connected with me. I thought, ‘I can be the guy who holds the foundation down, and it’s just a matter of finding somebody else to do the solos.”

You cant watch the full Q&A below:

He went on to list some of his favorite guitarists. “Pete Townshend is a phenomenal all-round guitar player, but he’s a phenomenal rhythm player. Steve Marriott in Humble Pie, who was one of my inspirations, was a phenomenal rhythm player. Jimmy Page, for all his great leads, is a tremendous rhythm player. I just decided to focus on that. So far it’s going pretty well – I think I’m going to get a deal!”

Stanley went on to talk about the recent discovery of a box from the band’s earliest days, including some tapes of pre-Kiss outfit Wicked Lester, which also featured Gene Simmons. “I found this box that was full,” he said. “It was almost like a time capsule. I found my taxi driver licence in there, which is unbelievable. I found something that most you don’t even know existed – something called a bank book.” He also found the first Kiss t-shirt he’d created, and reported it was in “perfect” condition.

He said he hadn’t had time to prepare the tapes for transfer to digital, explaining that old magnetic media needs to be baked in an oven to keep the magnetic surface attached to its tape backing, saying, “you may get one play out of it before it just falls apart.”

As the Kiss farewell tour approaches, Stanley described the band’s new costumes as an attempt to capture the spirit of their classic era. “I think some of these outfits are the coolest stuff we’ve had,” he said. “To go on the End of the Road [tour] and have something that looks familiar but at the same time kind of kicks it up a notch, I’m just psyched. My stuff is really cool, really comfy – as comfy as 40 pounds of gear can be.”

He added that, at recent rehearsals, the band were sounding “so ridiculously good,” continuing, “it just means that much to us. This time it’s got to be something very special. When I was doing sound check today I was just blown away by how solid it is and how good it sounds. I hate to think you have to have announced that you’re calling it quits to really up your game!”